In this issue, Part 2 of How To Buy A Home continues the process of learning what to do before you go house hunting. Too many buyers waste time and money by not having the right plan, and the right agent.
The Dawn of Green, Had Better Dawn on Us! This article is a heads up for what’s coming in the not too distant future…our grand kids are going to want something more than Granite counter tops. And those little darlin’s, now eight or nine years old, are going to be the Green Savvy buyers of the future. Learn what these kids will want when they come to buy your home in twenty short years.
Rumors about HUD allowing the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit to be used up front with FHA loans are proving to be unreliable. Probably too much risk for abuse.
Although some movement in the bond market, and a rumored reduction of the paper value of US debt is causing some up movement on interest rates, they continue to be ludicrously low. Anyone complaining about anything under 6% need only to look back a few years when an 8% loan was thought to be fabulously low! Buy now, if you can, by all means buy now.
Please go to my website and take a look at the new feature called, Client Testimonials. You can get to the site in the helpful links section of this newsletter and find the Client link on the upper left hand corner of the home page. Listen to what my clients say about my service! If you, or anyone you know, need an experienced, competent, and caring agent, call me to schedule a consultation. 504-579-4717
For all of your real estate needs, I remain at your service.
The Dawn of Green, Had Better Dawn on Us
I saw something the other day that gave me a very clear glimpse into the not so distant future. It was a whole gaggle of eight or nine year old school kids, maybe fifty of them, walking along the Mississippi levee bike path. Every single one of them had on a green T-shirt to signify their environmental sensitivity.
When these kids grow up, and kids grow up fast, they will have experienced years of environmental indoctrination. A large number of these kids will be very inclined to protect the environment, use sustainable resources, and demand products that are gentle on Mother Earth. Others who don’t share their sensitivity will be viewed as being socially irresponsible. Think about this…in the past twenty years or so there has been a major shift away from smoking cigarettes. In fact, for most non-smokers, as well as those who have quit smoking, watching someone smoke provokes a sequence of negative thoughts about that person. Take it a step further, you’re following a car, the driver’s side window rolls down and out flips a cigarette butt. Now, what are you thinking?
The point is this; these kids are developing habits of behavior not shared by many of older generations. It has been a wildly convenient, garbage generating, resource sucking, ride, for most of us, and not much thought has been given to the massive amount of refuse we generate, or fuel we use on an almost daily basis. But what would one of these kids think if they knew that their neighbor didn’t give a hoot about recycling, and drove some gigantic gas guzzling SUV? Not good. As the generations below us baby boomer types come into their own we will be, to what ever degree, socially marginalized unless we begin to make an effort to respect our green planet.
By now, you might be asking yourself, what does all of this have to do with real estate? The short answer is, plenty! Time goes by at a great galloping pace and before you know it, the house you’ve lived in for twenty years, the one into which you sank a load of money to buy a Sub Zero refrigerator, a Viking stove, a remodeled bathroom, and granite counter tops, is now on the block because the kids are gone, and you and your better half have decided to downsize. Enter the little darlings I recently saw on the bike path, they are now twenty nine years of age, and in a financial position to buy your home.
“What, no on demand hot water systems? Look at those old time windows; a lot of money is lost through single glass panes, and loose window frames. I didn’t see any evidence of a recycling service contract being in place, did you? Can you imagine not having a high tech HVAC system that dramatically reduces airborne particles? Did you look in the attic? I think the insulation must have been installed in the Stone Age. Did you see any LED’s or CFL’s, I didn’t. And, I didn’t see a water runoff recapturing system either, did you? And there was no evidence of a floor, or counter top, made from a sustainable or recycled resource. How about their garden! It has a load of water sucking plants that are definitely not from this environment. Well, what can you expect from people that age, anyway?”
Businesses devoted to the GREEN economy are popping up all over the place. As I was getting out of my car the other day I looked to my right and saw, New Orleans Bamboo, a new store on Magazine St., devoted to the sale of sustainable products including bamboo counter tops, pressed recycled paper countertops, and loads more. At the home and garden show I met a man who was selling fake grass that looked real, really it did! Another vendor was selling recycled, antique heart of pine products; including stair treads, beams, and flooring. Another had on demand hot water heaters. And this is absolutely the needle thin tip of the iceberg. And I will tell you this, there are now older homes being remodeled to suit environmental sensitivities. I was in one recently, a little shotgun in Mid City; it had very discreet solar panels that generated enough electricity that the owners actually sold it back to Entergy…that’s called net metering.
Even though I’m one of the first green designated real estate agents in Louisiana, I know that I can do a whole lot more to bring myself into the dawn of the green age. When I replace my counter tops, I’m going sustainable, and this week, the majority of my lights will be changed to CFL’s. Just for starters.
One doesn’t want to be left out, does one?
How To Buy A House, Part 2
How To Buy A House, Part 2: Finding A Good A Buyers Agent
The vast majority of home owners have virtually no hesitation when it comes to hiring an exclusive agent to sell their home. So, one must wonder why there is any hesitancy on the part of buyers to hire an exclusive, ABR certified, buyer’s agent to help them find the property they want, and to negotiate the best possible price and terms?
One can only imagine that buyers do not know what an ABR certified agent might be! An ABR certified agent (Accredited Buyer Agent) has taken additional training that centers directly on how to maximize a buyers opportunities and to insure that all aspects of the purchase go smoothly. When you hire an ABR certified buyer’s agent, they can do more for you than uncertified agents, and it takes less time to find the right home than if you worked with multiple agents. You get real focus from an ABR, and they are able to freely search the entire market of available homes, including For Sale By Owner which many other agents completely avoid. When you hire a buyer’s agent, that agent will work as hard for you as the best sellers agent would work for their clients.
A good buyer’s agent can save you a lot of money and in ways you might never have thought about. How about contract examination, neighborhood assessment, product knowledge, price determination, negotiation, and helping you to find the best lender? Just to name a few. A good buyer’s agent will also interview you thoroughly to determine exactly what you want/need, and make their upmost effort to bring homes for your consideration that meets your criteria.
A variety of Buyer’s Contracts are available. I suggest a six month contract, and one where the buyer isn’t directly responsible for compensating the agent. Compensation would come from the proceeds of the sale based on negotiated compensation with a FSBO, or as per the advertised commission offered by the seller’s agent in an MLS listing. I also recommend that should the performance of either party not be up to snuff, that either party could terminate the contract. Finally, I would require that a buyers agent not work with more than four to six buyers at a time. Beyond that, things get pretty hectic and and an agents can be diminished.
Look for agents with an ABR certification. An ABR, (Accredited Buyer Representative), means that the agent has been specially trained to work with buyers. This is a distinct advantage, because less than 10% of agents, nationally, hold this important certification.
The point is this, when you hire a buyer’s agent, you are getting the full focus and attention of that agent. Hiring a buyer’s agent will give you a much better chance of finding exactly what you want faster than working alone or with multiple agents. This is proven fact, so when you start thinking about buying a home, hire an exclusive buyer’s agent, one with an ABR, to save you hassle, time, and money. It’s the smart thing to do.
Go Green! Save Money!
Have you heard about the benefits of using 100% Nitrogen in your tires? According to many sources including the Get Nitrogen Institute who offered much of the following info, putting nitrogen in tires is becoming a popular alternative to standard air. Nitrogen is all around us… the air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and the rest is small amounts of other gasses.
When it comes to auto tire inflation, nitrogen has many advantages over regular air. With nitrogen tire inflation, improvements can be noted in a vehicle’s handling, fuel efficiency, extended tire life through better tire pressure retention, improved fuel economy and cooler running tire temperatures. Costco uses nitrogen in all of its fleet vehicles, the FAA requires aircraft tires to be filled with nitrogen which greatly reduces fire hazard.
I bought new tires the other day and it cost me 17 bucks to fill ‘em with nitrogen…some tire shops will do it for free. It’s another way to save fuel, and makes tires last longer, and anything we do to extend the life of our resources is good for all of us.